Changes
by VincaMinor
Summary: A quick little one-shot on what happened to Dragon during the events of Shrek 2


Based during Shrek 2. Just a quick little one-shot on what happened to Dragon when Donkey drank the potion. There might be slight spoilers for anyone who didn't stay during the credits and see the cute little mutant babies. Please ignore the fact that a dragon already is a perfect being and therefore it'd be impossible for her to change into anything better; just tell yourself that it's more "fairy tale happy ending." It seems like the type of thing that spell would do.  
  
xoooooox  
  
The camera of the mind's eye opens on a lava surrounded castle. It is a beautiful night. The stars shine brightly. The moon gives off a pleasant glow. The lava bubbles quietly. And from deep inside the keep a sulfurous smoke wafts gently.   
  
Focus on that smoke. Follow it down to where it emerges from a window with the glass half smashed out. In through the window, past the cobwebs and dark corners to the cause of the smoke. There; the faint glow coming from her own nostrils reveals a creature of great strength and beauty, a creature of deadly power, a creature of fierce predatory intellect. A creature who is daintily paging through a copy of "Modern Monster Mom" magazine and is eating banana-and-pickle ice-cream out of a barrel.  
  
Dragon sighed, looking down at the clutch of eggs she was uncomfortably setting upon. When the flock of storks had arrived with them a few months ago she had been ecstatic, only eating a couple of the birds, and that was only because one of them had tried to make her sign for the delivery and she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. But now as the months wore on she was getting tired of the whole thing, and would be very glad when they hatched in a few days.  
  
And Donkey would be so proud. Dragon missed her true love, but had chased him off for the duration for his own good. Many of her magazines said that fathers should be included in the process beyond the first necessary step, but mood swings could be deadly when one had razor sharp teeth and talons, and that fact that her boyfriend could be a total ass sometimes didn't help. Still, once the hatching took place she would go and find him, and show him their new family. Any day now, thought dragon as she drifted off to sleep. Any day now...  
  
Pan out from this endearing scene of impending motherhood. Back past blackened suits of armor and a few gnawed-on stork bones, past the dark corners and the spider webs and out the window. Focus on the castle at night, as the lava bubbles softly around it, giving it a warm, rosy glow.   
  
From the broken windows of the keep comes a bright blue flash of light.  
  
ooo  
  
Dragon awoke the next morning to the pleasant sensation of not lying on a pile of slightly pokey eggs. Her first thought was that they had hatched in the night, but she quickly dismissed it for several reason, not the least of which was that she was currently staring at one of the eggs and it seemed whole to her. Still, something about it wasn't right... It took Dragon a moment to realize that the egg in front of her seemed to have grown: where she had been able to cup the egg neatly in the palm of her hand (or pad of her paw, or whatever it is that dragons have), the top of it now came up to shoulder level when she stood her full height. That couldn't be right. Looking around she saw that all of the other eggs seemed to have grown likewise. Unless...  
  
Dragon looked down at her body, and was startled at what she saw. For one, there seemed to be a lot less of it, and the ground seemed much closer up too. Or at least it sort of did; she was having trouble focusing on anything with depth. It all seemed so flat, like a drawing in one of those books Fiona had liked so much as a girl.   
  
And that wasn't all. Parts seemed missing, or wrong. She tried to stretch her wings, only to find that she had no wings to stretch. She tried to lash her tail, only to find that all she could manage was a brief swish. She tried to flex her talons in frustration, only to find that her talons were gone, replaced with one small, round, overgrown toenail. Dragon was getting pissed.  
  
Walking, clumsily (the legs were all wrong), over to one side of the keep, Dragon found an old breastplate that hadn't been scorch too badly and was still slightly shiny. It wasn't the best mirror she'd ever used, but it would do. Looking in it Dragon started and reared back at what she saw. She had turned into, into a horse!  
  
Dragon was now a mare, beautiful, snow-white, fairy tale mare. Though she normally didn't talk much, being self-conscience of her voice (constant scorching due to fire breath was hell on vocal cords), Dragon cussed. Or tried to; being unused to a mouth without pointy teeth made it come out in a lisping slur of "Fu-rrrbbbaaaa!" But the feeling was there.  
  
ooo  
  
After the shock of finding herself several tons lighter and an entirely different species wore off, Dragon started thinking of her eggs. The last few days were always critical with dragon eggs, and they needed to be set on, and soon. A brief size comparison had quickly ruled out her present body for such a task, and so now Dragon was on a mission to find a surrogate sitter.   
  
Using an old crystal ball a pervious owner of the castle had left behind (in quite a hurry, in fact; one doesn't bother with much packing when a large dragon decides to take up residence on one's property), Dragon had made some calls. Her copy of the Necrotelicomnicon listed several numbers that could have been useful, but most were either out of business, booked solid, or turned into pizza parlors. About the time her third anchovy-and-virgin-sacrifice pizza (hey, even in a mare's body, she's still a dragon) had arrived, Dragon was running out of numbers and hope. There was only one more listing left that even seemed slightly possible. Wishing that she still had fingers to cross, Dragon dialed (yes, she dialed a crystal ball with hooves; don't ask me how).  
  
ooo  
  
Well, it wasn't quite what she'd been expecting, but it would do. Leading her new helpers into the keep, Dragon shook her head in exasperated amusement, her mane flipping beautifully and clichely in the sun as she did so.  
  
Once everyone got situated, Dragon sat down to wait, fighting the urge to go outside and graze. It wouldn't do for the babies to hatch and the first thing they saw to be their surrogate setters, as nice as having children who never forget sounded. Judging by the colour of their shells, the eggs were mere hours away from hatching.  
  
Dragon didn't have to wait long before the first sounds of cracking filled the air. Galloping over to where one of the helpers was signaling, Dragon got there just in time as it poked its little head out of the shell. He's got his father's eyes, she thought. And ears, and face, and tail for that matter. Well, on the other hand he had her legs and wings. And he was healthy, and really that was all that mattered. Dragon was overcome with love as her darling mutant baby stared up at her. She didn't have long to bask it the glow of newfound motherhood, though, for soon another cracking sound came from the other side of the keep. Leaving her first born son in the care of his surrogate setter for the moment, Dragon hurried off to see the birth of her next child.  
  
It took awhile, but eventually all her babies were born, and Dragon was right at the side of the egg for each. Dragon was so happy she almost cried, and didn't think of eating her helpers at all. Well, not too much. Only a little bit. And it's not like she could have anyway, being a horse and all.  
  
ooo  
  
Watching the last of her helpers trail out of the keep, Dragon couldn't help but smile. It's been a hectic day, but in the end it was all worth it. The last helper stopped in the doorway and turned, handing Dragon a card.  
  
"Thank you for using Horton Hatching Services. Please think of us next time you are in need of hatching assistance, and recommend our hatching service to your friends." He turned again and continued outside, quickly catching up with the rest of the elephants and hooking his trunk around the last one's tail to complete the line.  
  
Several hours later Dragon watched the clock, her children playing around her. She was glad they still had the last remnants of their egg sacs to keep them from getting hungry. If she didn't turn back soon she didn't know what she was going to do for food, a mare's body being quite insufficient to nurse one half dragon baby, let alone an entire brood. Maybe she could hire a wet nurse or six...  
  
The hands of the clock finished their slow creep closer to one another, and the clock chimed midnight. As it did so Dragon could feel her body start to rise, bright blue light shining from her. This is more like it, she thought as her now considerably larger self was lowered to the floor. Come children, she said in the silent language that dragons used with one another, lets go find Daddy.  
  
And with that Dragon and her children took to the air, in search of a certain Donkey who was in for a big surprise.   
  
xoooooox  
  
Disclaimer: Dragon, Donkey, the mutant babies, and all other characters and ideas from the movies belong to the creators of Shrek, and probably some production companies or something. The Necrotelicomnicon belongs to Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (also known as the Liber Paginarum Fulvarum, or the Phonebook of the Dead). Horton belongs to Dr. Suess. I own none of it. 


End file.
